EPISD administrators say inquiry that threatens their jobs is flawed

El Paso Independent School District administrators gathered at the El Paso Times to talk about their removal from their positions as a result of an audit by Weaver and Tidwell LLP. The administrators are (from left) Luis Loya, Randall Woods, Kristine Ferret and Grace Garcia Runkles. (Victor Calzada / El Paso Times)

Four El Paso Independent School District administrators are criticizing the investigation that has them facing termination today, saying the investigators were ill-informed and knew nothing about education.

The administrators are also upset that the school district has not told them what they allegedly did wrong.

In an hour-and-a-half interview with the El Paso Times on Monday, Burges High School Principal Randall Woods, El Paso High School Principal Kristine Ferret, Center for Career and Technology Education Principal Luis Loya, and El Paso High School Assistant Principal Grace Runkles said they were being unfairly targeted and called the questioning by the Weaver and Tidwell auditing firm unstructured, random, flawed and aimed at just getting results.

Investigators, they said, were not interested in due process.

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The four spoke with the El Paso Times on Monday morning, their first public comments on the district's attempt to remove them. The interview took place several hours before the district released the Weaver audit report, so the administrators focused their comments on the investigation process because they didn't yet know the investigation outcomes.

The four face possible termination at today's school board meeting, along with four others -- Austin High School Principal John Tanner, Burges High School Assistant Principal J. Manuel Duran Jr., Jefferson High School Assistant Principal Adrian Bustillos and Austin High School Assistant pincipal Michael Salcido.

"The Weaver group, they told me that, 'We're getting a lot of flack from the news about all the money we are making, we've got to produce something,' " Ferret said.

Runkles reiterated that she, too, was told the firm was only interested in producing results.

"I was told by them, 'You know why we are here,' " Runkles said, recalling her interview with the Weaver investigators. "They said, 'You know that they are paying us big money to find out if cheating is taking place at this district.' "

REPORTER

Alex Hinojosa

Tiger Hanner, an Austin lawyer representing Tanner and Bustillos who listened in on the interviews with his clients by the Weaver group, said he believed the Weaver investigators had already reached conclusions before interviewing either of his clients.

"This is the most ridiculous investigation I've ever seen," Hanner said in a phone interview with the El Paso Times. "My fear is they spent almost a million dollars and had to do something to justify it."

District officials maintain that the findings of the audit are being handled with care and that rash decisions are not being made.

"The district has been assessing the personnel issues for many months," interim EPISD Superintendent Vernon Butler said in a written statement. "The findings of the forensic audit has provided insight into what was done under the previous administration. These personnel actions are being handled with great care."

Each of the administrators stated that the Weaver group did not take extensive notes during the questioning, did not record the interviews, and when asked for evidence of wrongdoing, investigators were not able to present any.

In addition, Ferret said she was very concerned with some of their questions which indicated that the investigators did not have a background in education or the district's policies mandated by the Texas Education Agency.

"It was such a bizarre meeting," Ferret said. "They asked specific questions about educational strategies and practices that they weren't familiar with. The comments they made included that interventions were illegal, interventions are cheating and even to the extent of tutoring."

BethAnn Black, spokeswoman for Weaver, said they could not comment on the audit because of a confidentiality agreement with EPISD.

The Weaver group was hired by EPISD after the district was mandated to hire an independent firm to investigate how a massive cheating scheme occurred in the district. The original contract called for Weaver to be paid about $590,000, but that swelled to almost $800,000 by the time the work was finished in late February.

The district received a draft audit report from Weaver in early March and last week the eight administrators were placed on administrative leave after being told they could resign or face a termination action in front of the school board.

None of them were told why their careers were in jeopardy.

"The board will go into closed session, come out and vote and that's it, there will be no formal presentation of the charges," Woods said. "I don't know what I'm being charged with. So I have to fight this to find out what the charges are against me."

Loya and Woods also questioned the timing of their removals -- just two days before the end-of-course exams begin.

"There is no due process," Loya said. "I feel like I'm a sitting duck and they are going to determine whatever it is that they want to determine. We don't have a voice (today) to defend ourselves. But I feel that the community and the kids are not being served right. I feel the community needs to fight and take command of what's happening because this is an injustice for the kids."

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